Apparatus for finishing glassware



Aug. 15, 1939.

w. L. WAGNER, SR 2,169,455 APPARATUS FOR FINISHING GLASSWARE Filed July 2, 1937 :5 Sheets-Sheet 1' g o I "3 8; @',j 5

Aug. 15, 1939. L WAGNER, 5R 2,169,455

APPARATUS FOR FINISHING GLASSWARE Filed July 2, 1937 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Aug. 15, 1939. w. WAGNER, SR

APPARATUS FOR FINISHING GLASSWARE Filed July 2, 1937 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 E H "w 'y 3 2 O 5 a 3 3 5 K 7 J m"? j k AT I f m T M NE} 6 W .6 M #46 7 "m L x9 1 an; m a 1 m. w .m

INVENTOR Patented Aug. 15, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 5 Claims.

My invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for the finishing of glassware. and more particularly to the completion or finishing of blown tumblers, goblets and the like.

Blown ware is first produced in the form of a blank of generally bottle shape, the upper necked portion of which must be removed and the upper edge of the body thereafter glazed. Various methods have heretofore been employed for removing the cap portion of such a blank, .mostly involving a considerable number of manual operations which involve a considerable amount of time and expense. One of the methods heretofore practiced consists in first annealing the blown blank, then scoring it by a diamond or grinding wheel for a short distance at the line of severance. Thereafter the blank is set into a holder where it is rotated while a thin edge fiame is applied peripherally at the line of severance. The thermal shock causes the cap to crack from the body portion, the partial scoring assisting in controlling the line of cracking. After the cap falls off, the body portion is taken to a grinding machine where the rough broken edge is ground smooth and thereafter the article is passed through a glazing machine where the top edge is subjected to a fiame to softenthe same and produce a rounded smooth finish thereon. Finally, the article is subjected to another annealing operation, in order to relieve the strains which have been set up therein by the glazing fiame.

One object of my invention is to provide a means and a method whereby ware of the character referred to can be finished in a fewer number of operations and with greater economy and speed.

Another object of my invention is to provide a means and armethodwhereby there is reduced breakage of the ware and a better quality of finished ware is produced.

Briefly stated, my invention involves the complete scoring of the articles along the line at which the cracking-01f is to be effected, and the edge of the article is to be finished, the application of a knife edge fiame to the scoring line,

the removal of the cap, and the glazing of the edge of the body of the article. By this method not only do I avoid the necessity for grinding the edge of the article after the cracking-oil operation, because the cracking-off line is more uniform, but there is less breakage of ware. Theware may be operated upon by my apparatus either as it comes from the forming molds and before annealing,. or after the ware has been annealed.

As shown in the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of the machine; Fig. 2 is a side view thereof with parts broken away and 5 other parts shown in section; Fig. 3 is a view taken on the line IIIIII of Fig. 2; Fig. Fig. 4 is an enlarged view taken on the line IV--IV of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a view taken on the line V-N of Fig. 4; Fig. 6 is a view taken on the line 10 VI-VI of Fig. 2; Fig. '7 is a vertical sectional view showing a modified form of device for supporting'the ware during the application of the scoring wheel thereto, and Fig. 8 is a schematic view illustrating the ware at various stages of the finishing operations performed thereon.

As shown in Fig. 8, a blank as it comes from the mold, is illustrated by the numeral III, the blowhead or blow pipe having been removed from the cap of the blank. The first operation on 20 the ware is indicated'at A where a cutting wheel, as hereinafter explained, is caused to engage the blank at the cracking-off line throughout its entire circumference. The application of cracking-oif heat is indicated at B; the removal of 25 the cap from the blank is indicated at C, and at 12 is shown the edge of the tumbler being subjected to the heat of a glazing fiame. V

The apparatus may be mounted upon a truck or carriage II by means of which it can conveniently be moved to various locations in a glass factory. A sleeve-like bearing column I2 is mounted on one end of the truck frame and serves as a bearing for a vertical shaft l3 to which is secured an idler sprocket wheel I4,

around which passes a carrier chain IS. A pedestal I6 is mounted on the other end of the truck and toward its upper end is of reduced diameter toserve as a shaft forza gear wheel I! and a sprocket wheel l8 which is keyed to and turns 40 in synchronism with the gear wheel II. The carrier chain l5 passes around the sprocket wheel l8 also, and is driven thereby.

A motor I9 is' mounted on the truck and through its pinion 2!! drives a gear wheel f2! that is secured to a shaft which has a worm 22 that meshes with a worm wheel 23. The worm wheel 23 is mounted on a shaft which carries a pinion 24 that meshes with the gear wheel I'I thereby effecting driving connection from the motor (9 through the gear wheel H to the sprocket wheel I8.

The carrier chain I5 has formed therein at the link joints vertically-extending bearing members 26 of sleeve-like form in each of which a chuck lower end of the post 44. The

' wheel shaft 21 or the like is rotatably supported, the shafts 21 being provided with flanges 28 that rest upon the upper endsv of the bearing members 26, as shown more clearly in Fig. 3, whereby the shafts are vertically supported. At their, lower ends, the shafts carry sprockets 29, whereby the shafts are rotated at various points along the path of travel of the chain l5, as will be hereinafter explained.

The sprocket chain l5 together with the bearing members 26 are supported by flanges 36 formed on the upper ends of the bearing members and which ride upon slideways or tracks 3| mounted on the framework of the truck.

The upper ends of the shafts 21 have rigidly secured thereto cups or chuck bodies 32 in which the glassware is carried during the cracking-off and finishing operations.

The finished articles can be removed from the holders 32 and the ware introduced therein at the station marked X in Fig. 1. chain is preferably continuously driven, and the glass blanks ID are first presented to a scoring wheel 38. During contact of an article with the scoring wheel, its holder 32 is rotated through engagement of its sprocket wheel 29 with a chain 35 that passes around sprocket wheels 36 and 31, either of which may be driven, preferably at high speed, so that the blank holder 32 is rapidly rotated when passing along the chain 35.

A scoring wheel 38 is mounted on a vertical shaft 38 that is journalled in a bearing sleeve 40. The bearing sleeve 48 is supported by a shank member 4| that is adjustably secured in a sleeve portion 42 of a bracket 43 that is vertically ad-- justable on a post 44, so that the scoring wheel can beadjusted to engage blanks at various heights. A collar 45 lies within an annular recess in the sleeve portion 42 and is connected to the shank 4| by a set screw 41. The bearing 40, therefore, can be adjusted f on the bracket 43 so that it will engage articles of various diameters. The set screw 41 extends through a slot in the upper edge of the bracket extension 42, so that the shank member 4| can have slight rotative movement therein and permit slight rocking movements of the bearing and the wheel 38 toward and from the blank. The bearing 48 is provided with an arm 46 that projects between a pair of thimble extensions 48 on the lower portion of the bracket 43, as shown more clearly in Fig. 5, and is engaged by spring pressed plungers 49 carried by the thimble extensions 48. This mounting provides for some yieldable movement of the wheel 38 relative to the articles, which permits the scoring wheel to closely follow the contours of articles which may be slightly uneven.

The scoring wheel is given some traveling movement with tl'fi articles while in contact therewith, and to this end the post 44 ismounted on a swinging arm 52 which at one end is journalled on the pedestal l6 between anti-friction bearings |1aandl8a mounted on said pedestal. Swinging movement of the bracket 52 is effected by a cam 53 which engages a roller 54 secured to the cam is mounted upon the lower end of a shaft 55, the upper end of which carries a gear wheel 56.

56 is driven by a gear wheel 51 that is in turn driven from a pinion 58 which meshes with the gear wheel I1,

Since each revolution of the gear wheel l1 and the sprocket 8 will move 12 blank holders 32 past a given point, the cam 53 will be given 12 revolutions during each revolution of 8 p k The carrier The gear glazing chambers 83,

wheel, and will swing the bracket 52 together with the grinding wheel in the direction of travel of the carrier chain for a distance approximately one-half of the pitch or center-to-center spacing of the blank holders. A spring 59 serves to retract the swinging bracket 52 when the high spot of the cam passes out of engagement with the cam roller 54. The scoring wheel 38 is constantly rotated by means of a flexible shaft 68.

In order to hold the blanks stable in the cups 32 against the pressure of the scoring wheel, I provide suctional force supplied through a suction pipe 62, that through a conduit 63 in the upper end of the pedestal l6 and a horizontallywidened passageway 64, communicates with a passageway 65 through each of the spokes of the sprocket wheel l8 successively, as such spokes successively engage bearing sleeves 26 of the cup holders.

The bearing sleeves have laterally-extending ports which register with the passageways 65 and communicate with vertical passageways 61 in the shafts 21, so that as each holder is brought into positionto present a blank to the scoring wheel 38, the air passages 61 will be brought into engagement with the ports 65 of a sprocket wheel spoke, which port is at that time in registry with the port 64. Suctional force, therefore, will be gage the article at the cracking-off line to score the same, the wheel being advanced with the article for a short distance to insure a complete peripheral score mark.

After the articles have been scored, they are carried past the cracking-oil station, which consists of a hood or chamber 18 within which are mounted burners 1| that produce a knife edge flame at the score lines on the blanks. The blanks are rotated during application of the cracking-off flame through engagement of their gear wheels 28 with a sprocket chain 12 which passes around sprocket wheels 13 and 14, either of which may be driven to cause the chain 12 to rotate the holders rapidly.

The thermal shock from the flame causes the blank to crack on the scored line, and removal of the topis effected at the next station, bymeans of lifter members 15 that are carried on. guide pins 16 and 11 that extend through a disc or wheel 18 that is secured to the upper end-of the shaft 3, above the sprocket wheel I 4. The pins 16, together with the lifters 15 are periodically raised by a stationary cam 19 that is mounted upon the framework of the truck. The lifters 15 have approximately semi-circular recesses in their outer ends, so that during rotation of the sprocket wheel M the lifters are successively brought into engagement with the caps, at points beneath beads formed on said caps, so that the caps can be raised by the lifters. After each lifter has engaged beneath the bead of a cap, and in its traveling movement with the carrier chain l5, it engages a high zone of the cam 19, thus lifting the cap clear of the. article. Further movement of the apparatus brings the lifters 15 to a stripping bar 8|. which causes the caps to be pushed off the lifters and to be discharged through a chute 82'.

When the caps have been removed from the blanks, as above explained, the blanks move past which contain burners 84 (Fig. 8) whose flames are projected across the edges of the articles to impart a smooth finish thereto, the articles being rotated by engagement of the sprockets 29 with a stationary rack bar 29a. After the glazing operation, the articles are removed from the holders at the station X and unfinished blanks inserted into the holders.

'In Fig. '7 I show means other than suctional force for maintaining the blanks against deflection under scoring pressure. In this arrangement, a plate 85 is secured to the upper end of a shaft 86, which may be suitably connected to the shaft which drives the sprocket l8, as shown for example in the Haub Patent 2,001,460. A cam 81 is rigidly mounted on the framework of the machine concentrically of the shaft 86. Presser members 88 are slidably supported upon the plate 85 by guide pins 89 and 90. Since the shaft 86 will rotate with the sprocket wheel that drives the carrier chain, the presser members 88 Will be periodically raised and lowered through engagement of the guide pins 90 with the cam 81. The

cam 81 is so positioned that the presser members 88 will be in their lowermost positions, in engagement with the articles, while the scoring wheel 38 is in engagement with the articles. A diamond held in a yieldable holder may be used in place of the grinding wheel 38.

I claim as my invention:

1. Apparatus for operating upon glass blanks, comprising an endless carrier, means for driving the carrier continuously, means or? the carrier for supporting the blanks in uniformly spaced relation, a scoring wheel located at a given point in the path of travel of the carrier in position to be engaged by the blanks on the carrier in succession, means driven by said driving means for moving said wheel in the direction of travel of the carrier in unison with movement of each blank past said point while in contact with a blank, the

distance of unitary travel of the wheel and the blanks being approximately equal to one-half the center-to-center spacing between the blanks, means for simultaneously rotating the wheel on its axis, and means operable independently of movement of said carrier, for rotating the blanks at a rate suflicient to produce a complete circumferential score mark thereon during said unitary traveling movement.

2. Apparatus for operating upon glass blanks,

comprising a-carrier, means on the carrier for supporting the blanks in uhiformly spaced relation, means for driving the carrier continuously,

a scoring wheel successively engageable with the blanks while on the carrier, means for moving said wheel a limited distance with each blank while in engagement therewith, means for simultaneously rotating the wheel on its axis, and

means operable independently of movement of. the carrier, for rotating the blanks at a rate sufficient to produce-a complete circumferential score mark thereon, during said movement of the blank and the wheel.

3. Apparatus for operating upon articles of glassware, comprising a continuously movable carrier, means on said carrier for supporting the articles, a scoring tool engageable with the articles successively at a given point while on the carrier, means operable independently of movement of the carrier, for rotating the articleswhile in engagement with the scoring tool, and means periodically actuated in timed relation to movement of the articles past said point for imparting traveling movement to the scoring tool while in contact with an article.

4. Apparatus for operating upon articles of glassware, comprising a movable carrier, means for driving said carrier continuously, means on said carrier for supporting the articles, a scoring tool positioned to be engaged successively by the articles while on the carrier, means operable independently of movement of the carrier, for rotating the articles while in engagement with the scoring tool, means for producing a cracking-oil. flame at a point where the articles have passed the scoring tool, and means operable independ ently of movementof the carrier for rotating the articles while passing said flame.

5. Apparatus for operating upon articles of glassware, comprising a movable carrier, means for driving said carrier continuously, means on said carrier for supporting the articles, a scoring tool positioned to be engaged successively by the articles while on the carrier, means operable independently of movement of the carrier, for rotating the articles while in engagement with the scoring tool, means for producing a cracking-off flame at a point where the articles have passed 

